It was the summer solstice yesterday, I marked the occasion with an excursion to the Embalse de Negratin with my Gumotex Halibut kayak. The plan for the day was to re-trace the route of a paddle on the 'badlands' side of the reservoir, which I did with my Neris Valkure folding kayak in June 2017, blog post June 6th. 2017. I affectionately refer to the side of the reservoir, opposite to Playa de Freila, as the 'badlands', because it's a remote, wilderness-like area with scenery reminding me of old western films. Got into a nice steady paddling rhythm and covered 11 kilometres in 3¼ hours. It's getting pretty hot here now, but the weather was on my side yesterday - overcast, threatening rain (which never came) and very light winds to start with. Sun kept trying to break through the clouds - and I kept willing it not to! Didn't feel like a Summer Solstice day, but it suited me just fine.
Didn't take any photos this time but I've attached a couple from the 2017 trip – the sort of scenery where, with a little imagination, you might expect to see eagles soaring, coyotes skulking around, smoke signals in the sky, Apaches on horseback silhouetted on the skyline and Clint Eastwood (or John Wayne) riding through the canyons – but, of course, I didn't see any of that! In fact I didn't see or hear any movement, wildlife or otherwise, at all.
Most strenuous part of the trip was the crossing of open water back to Playa de Freila. A wind, stronger than forecast, started gusting up from the dam end of the reservoir, creating uncomfortably choppy water. My nice steady paddling rhythm increased in tempo! Open water crossings of Negratin need to be treated with respect in fresh winds from either end of the reservoir. The very same thing happened on that June 2017 trip, but on that occasion the wind was short lived and I sheltered in an inlet until it passed, before attempting the crossing.
Landing back at the beach was a bit ungainly. With waves sweeping diagonally along the shore a nimble exit from the kayak, to pull it clear of the water, was needed – but my old legs, after being redundant for more than 3 hours, didn't feel like co-operating quickly enough! Fortunately, it being such a grey morning, there were no witnesses – and I didn't actually fall over.
